And the winner of Kate Noble’s book is Shannon. Congratulations to all the winners! We’ll be in touch.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the blog this week – it was great fun! Kate Noble will be back next week for an interview, and historical romance author Bronwen Evans will also be stopping by. Please join us!

I have a fabulous author guest blogging with me today. She’s Joan Swan, and she writes romantic suspense forKensington Brava. Her debut book, Fever, has gotten great reviews and received tons of attention. Trust me – if you like gritty romantic suspense, you will love this book.

But like many authors, Joan is also branching out into self-publishing or, as it’s often called, indie publishing. In fact, she’ll be releasing her first indie book in May. You can check out all the details onher website.

Joan and I have something in common. We’re both members of Rock*It Reads, a collective of print authors who are also indie publishing. I blogged about it a few weeks ago, and Joan is here to give you the latest update, which includes a very exciting announcement.

Over to you, my friend!

The publishing industry has turned the corner into a fast and furious new era. The changes are undeniably exciting…and daunting.

For authors a whole new area of choices await—how your cover will look, which editor you’ll choose, what story you’ll write next and in what genre. But there are also more worrisome concerns, like how you can make your work stand out in this overflowing market.

For readers, this new era gives you an amazing body of work to choose from that would not have been available even just a year ago. Many talented authors, both previously unpublished and traditionally published, have a new outlet for their work—both new and backlist titles. The low prices associated with most epublished books certainly helps out in tough economic times as well. Add to that the portability and flexibility of ereaders and you’ve got a near-heavenly situation.

Why just near-heavenly? Because you, the reader, have to wade through the millions of books available to narrow down your choices. Might sound easy, but it only takes a few duds to the tune of $3-$5 to make those “off” choices add up pretty quick. And I have to admit that’s one of my pet peeves – taking a chance on a book — spending the money, investing my time, my hope…and being let down. For a romance reader, there is not much less disappointing than this.

This is a conundrum that the authors at Rock*It Reads also found troubling. Rock*It Reads is a group of NY traditionally publishing authors who are also venturing out into indie epublishing. The coop we’ve created supports a group of authors who get not only goes into a quality read—editing, design, proofreading, etc., but what it takes to stand out in an ocean of unknown titles.

So when you see the RIR, Rock*It Reads logo on a book cover, you’ll know each book has been professionally handled from cover to cover, by authors who have done this many time before in the professional realm of New York publishers.

As authors who appreciate amazing writing and long for an awesome story as much as the next reader, we have partnered with Barnes and Noble to bring outstanding self published titles to readers’ attention through a brand new review column:Love Rocks. At Love Rocks,Rock*It Reads authors will showcase a fabulous Indie read they’ve discovered and review the book. We’ll be focusing on the lesser known authors and titles whose brilliance has yet to be recognized, which I personally find thrilling. What reader doesn’t love to find a talented new author to read?

Vanessa, here. I have to tell you, I’m very excited about LOVE ROCKS. So what do you think, readers? Do you like this new world of indie publishing? What do you think about this leap into the future? Leave a comment for a chance to win one of these great books!